The invention relates to an apparatus for the desludging of baths, in particular the freeing of tick immersion baths for cows from solid particles introduced by the animals. Such an apparatus includes a suction tube immersible in the liquid, a pump and a preliminary basin fed by the pump and equipped with an overflow passing the liquid to be purified to the upper edge of a sieve plate mounted obliquely relative to the direction of gravity and retaining the solid particles. The sieve plate is provided with a plurality of slots extending essentially transversely relative to the direction of flow, with a collector basin being located underneath the sieve plate for the filtered liquid, the basin being connected by means of a drain with the bath to be purified.
An apparatus of this type, with an inclined metal sieve for the separation of solids from aqueous liquids has already been used in various fields, in particular for the preliminary settling of municipal waste waters, the fine precipitation of slaughterhouse sewage, the separation of fibers in textile plants and in paper mills.
In tropical countries it is necessary to free domestic animals, in particular cows, regularly from pathogenic organisms in order to prevent the propagation of epidemics. In East Africa, cows are driven twice weekly through tick baths which contain insecticide, however, in the process the cows contaminate the bath with dirt adhering to body parts, and with their own excrements. In particular, the soil material adhering to the hooves of the cows is introduced in the bath and settles on the bottom in the form of a sludge.
The immersion baths for cows contain about 20,000 liters of water and about 0.2% insecticide. After about 50,000 to 100,000 cows have dragged sand, stones, soil and other foreign substances into the bath, it must be cleaned. For this, heretofore immersion baths of this type were completely emptied once or twice a year to remove the bottom sludge from the basin. In the case of a sludge component of about 10%, 2,000 liter sludge must be removed in this manner. In view of the large water and sludge volumes, the process presently followed is cumbersome and involves high losses relative to water and time, as during the emptying and refilling of the basin it is not possible to bathe the animals to protect them against disease.
Based on this state of the art it is the object of the invention to provide an apparatus to make it possible to free a sludge containing bath of even small solid particles, within a short period of time and without interrupting the operation.